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Stress Management In DisastersIt is universally accepted that optimum levels of stress can act as a creative, motivational force that can drive people to achieve incredible feats (eustress). Chronic or traumatic stress (distress) on the other hand, is potentially very destructive and can deprive people of physical and mental health, and at times even of life itself. Emergency response personnel are unique in that they dedicate their time and energy in assisting persons during stressful times of their lives, for example, after disasters such as hurricanes, volcanic eruptions, earthquakes, etc. By doing this however, they are themselves repeatedly exposed to very stressful situations. Even though their training prepares them to deal with such situations, the reality is that they have a higher than normal risk for developing post-traumatic stress syndromes, including post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Hence, it must be deduced that the repeated exposure of emergency response personnel to critical incident stress does have a potentially deleterious effect on their well-being. It has also been found that the psychological well-being of emergency response personnel dealing with emergency situations can greatly affect the overall outcome of such situations, including the prognosis of the primary victims of the event. This workbook, Stress Management in Disasters, and the companion workbook, Insights into the Concept of Stress, were designed to provide the basic training material for persons who will be providing such a service. This book can be ordered from PAHO's Emergency Preparedness Program (disaster-publications@paho.org), or can be downloaded, by chapters, as PDF files. You need to have installed Adobe Acrobat Reader to read these files. It can be obtained free of charge from the Adobe Website.
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